


Randomness Included

by HamenaHamena



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Gen, Gordie shenanigans, I'm Not A Great Writer, Leon is so lost please help the poor man, Minor Relationships, Randomness, This is mostly for fun and giggles, cursing/curse words included, i don't have the game yet so this is my coping mechanism, not canon, shitpost
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:07:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21616738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HamenaHamena/pseuds/HamenaHamena
Summary: These are just some random stories about the characters in Pokemon SWSH. Nothing is canon, and not everything will make sense, but that's what fanfics are for, yeah?Don't take these stories too seriously, mainly because I'm not a great writer and I just like goofing around with these characters that Gamefreak has blessed upon our souls. Updates will be very slow, because I'm quite lazy when it comes to writing-This will probably focus on mostly the Gym Leaders, with a few others thrown into the mix.
Comments: 15
Kudos: 103





	1. Breaking Into Your Own Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gordie gets locked out.

It was a chilly day in Circhester, and all Gordie wanted was to go home and get some sleep. It had been a rough day, having battled many challengers (and beating them all), but it really took a toll on his mind and body. His entire body ached, and he knew that his Pokemon were knackered as well.

He left the stadium, waving goodbye to his fans, and making sure to show no signs of weakness as he continued to walk back home. It was way past sunset, and the town was beautifully lit by the lamp posts that were on every corner, and the dim moonlight that was covered by a few clouds. Finally, he made it home, and reached into his pocket for his keys. But for some reason, he didn't feel the metal item that was his only way to clear the obstacle in front of him. Gordie's eye twitched behind his colorful sunglasses, and he took a sharp intake of breath before letting out a long sigh.

"Shit."

He shoved his other hand into his adjacent pocket, but he felt nothing. "Of course you forget your keys on the chilliest day of the entire fucking year-" he whispered to himself, lowering his head and avoiding the gaze of the people who were enjoying their evening stroll.

_Alright Gordie, what should you do? It's freezing out here and the door is locked._

He didn't want to ask his Pokemon for help to do something so trivial, but it might be his only shot at getting in his house. "Ah... whatever- Barbaracle come on out!" He watched as his Barbaracle emerged from his Pokeball, stretching all its limbs and letting out a long groan. He then settled his gaze on Gordie, who kneeled down next to his Pokemon. "Heya pal, sorry to call you so soon, but it seems that I may need your help."

"Bara...."

"I know, you're tired. But could you just open this door for me?" Barbaracle's head and limbs tilted to one side, giving Gordie a questionable look. "I locked myself out-"

"Er, hello Gordie!" a voice from behind him said. Gordie's eyes widened as he stood up and turned around, looking at a lady he recognized as one of the new gym trainers in his own gym. She was still wearing her uniform, but had a thick, fur coat over her shirt. "Are you alright there?"

Gordie put on his signature smile and nodded. "Of course, I am! I'm just thinking about a few things that happened today, and letting Barbaracle know that he's doing a great job." Barbaracle has been around Gordie for years, and immediately went along with this facade by putting on a happy face and attempting some sort of thumbs up with his huge claws. Gordie pushed up his sunglasses and looked at the lady, who tilted her head to one side slightly. 

"Aren't you chilly, Gordie?"

_Fuck yes he was. _"Nah, I got my own coat with me. Don't worry about it!"

"Bara bara!" his Barbaracle reassured.

She looked at Gordie with a smile on her face. He knew that this lady really loved him, and that's why she applied to be a gym trainer in the first place. But this also meant that she knew a lot about him, and his personality. This lady could probably see right through his lies.

"You know, if you're locked out then you could just stay somewhere else for the night. There's a hotel nearby, or, I mean, doesn't your mother live just a few streets down-"

"Shush- stop, stop-" Gordie waved his hands manically in front of him, signaling for her to close her mouth. "Don't bring up my mother- thank you- and like I said, I'm perfectly fine. I'm fine. It's fine."

"Heheh, whatever you say Gordie. G'night!" she giggled, and started walking away. Gordie and Barbaracle made sure that the lady was completely gone, and then they returned to their plotting position of kneeling down close to each other.

"Pssh, imagine that, asking my _mom_ for shelter- ahem- anyway, here's plan A: use Stone Edge on the door."

Barbaracle let out a surprised and concerned grumble.

"It'll be fine, just use a very, very light Stone Edge, alright?" Gordie stood up and patted his Pokemon on the shoulder. "Now, Barbaracle use Stone Edge!" he exclaimed, but not too loudly so his neighbors didn't hear him. Barbaracle's eyes started to glow and sharp rocks started to appear around him. After letting out a strained cry, Barbaracle launched the rocks at Gordie's front door. They all slammed into the door, putting an unimaginable amount of force against it, but the door didn't seem to budge. Instead, there were now huge pieces of rock stuck and sticking out of the front door. Gordie's eye twitched again.

"How the hell did that not- okay, whatever. Whatever! We'll try plan B." Gordie didn't seem concerned at all by the state of his door, and started thinking of a plan B. "ALRIGHT- use Razor Shell instead! Slice that door open!"

This time, Barbaracle didn't question his decision (he was actually having fun hitting things that weren't trying to hit him back), and used both hands to slice at the door in an "X" position. The door splintered and a few wood chunks flew off, along with a few stones from that previous Stone Edge.

Gordie could practically see the inside of his home with the new holes in his front door, but the door still wouldn't open from the outside, and Gordie couldn't fit his arm through the X-shaped hole on the door to unlock it from the inside. Gordie took another deep breath, with the cool air in his surroundings filling up his lungs and causing him to shiver.

"THAT IS IT-"

Gordie took a few steps back, and Barbaracle moved away as well, watching Gordie closely. Suddenly, Gordie charged at the ruined door that stood between him and a hot shower, and slammed into it, causing the entire door to unhinge and fall backwards. Gordie didn't catch himself, and fell on top of the door as well, getting a face full of sharp rocks and wood splinters.

"HAH! I'M INSIDE!" he exclaimed, while turning over onto his back with a little blood trickling from his forehead. Barbaracle clapped a few times before reaching out to Gordie, helping him stand back up. Gordie didn't even care to wipe off the dust, and just thanked Barbaracle for the help, and returned him to his Pokeball.

After that struggle, Gordie lifted up his tattered door, and just settled it against the doorframe in a way that just barely covered the outside world. _Better than nothing._

Gordie finally got to take that nice, hot, and steamy shower before heading to bed, and got a good night's sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading hehehehehheehh


	2. Soaked Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nessa goes fishing.

Nessa decided to go fishing today. The sky was clear, the wind was light, and the sea was calm. It was perfect.

She grabbed her best fishing rod, and headed out for the docks, making sure to wave goodbye to her parents before she left. When she reached the docks, she let Drednaw out of his Pokeball to get a good stretch. She sat down near the edge of the dock, and threw her line out into the sea, hoping to catch a worthy opponent. Drednaw cuddled up next to her, enjoying the sunlight that shined bright onto his shell. Even though Drednaw's rocky spikes were jabbing into her side making Nessa uncomfortable, she let him rest up and relax however he wanted to.

"Hey Drednaw," she asked him after a few minutes of waiting for a bite, "what do you think about Milo?"

The Pokemon made a grumbling sound, and shifted his head in the opposite direction from Nessa. It seemed that Drednaw wasn't in the mood to speak about her colleagues. Nessa scoffed, but not in an angry manner. "Fine then. I didn't want your opinion anyway," she smirked. She loved Drednaw with all her heart, and teased him sometimes about how he acted, but even Drednaw knew that Nessa would die for him.

A few more minutes passed, and Nessa squinted her eyes. "Hey, do you see that? In the water, over there-" she pointed over to a darker shadow that was a little further away from where she threw her rod. The Pokemon beside her lifted his head, and looked out at the ocean as well. The dark spot was getting bigger, and suddenly, a huge wave emerged from the spot, splashing Nessa and Drednaw. Nessa used her arms to attempt to make some sort of cover, but it was no use, and she was now soaked from head to toe. Drednaw was also soaked, but he seemed to enjoy the cool and refreshing wave that passed over him. "What the-"Nessa looked over at the shadow was was now revealed to be a Cramorant that had used Surf on the docks. It flapped its wings, hovering over the sea with an unfortunate Arrokuda in its mouth.

"Ggrgr!" the bird struggled to say with the entire fish in its mouth. Nessa chuckled, and looked at the Cramorant with her piercing blue gaze. "What was that for?" she asked, but was suddenly interrupted by a sudden yelp from the bird that had just LAUNCHED the fish at her Drednaw.

The Arrokuda smacked Drednaw right in his head (just barely avoiding his huge spike), while making an uncomfortable wet sound. The fish plopped onto the docks, and Drednaw rose up from his resting position and let out an angry roar. Nessa wanted to laugh, but she didn't, and pointed at the Cramorant, saying, "Alright Drednaw! Use Crunch!" But Drednaw didn't even need Nessa's orders, as he was already charging at the odd bird, with his jaw wide open.

He nailed the Cramorant right in its side, and it let out a slight cry of pain, unable to focus on hovering. They both fell into the water, as Nessa reeled her rod back in. _Drednaw can take care of the rest._

She was about to throw her rod back into the ocean (but in a different spot, away from the current ruckus that her Drednaw and the opposing Cramorant were having), but she heard a little gurgle coming from beside her. She looked down, and saw the tiny Arrokuda flopping around, unable to help itself. She kneeled down and gently picked it up with two hands, when she noticed that it had something in its mouth.

"Argok-" the fish wiggled, a little scared by Nessa's giant hand headed towards its face. But all she did was take out the item from its mouth, and let it go back into the ocean.

Nessa realized that the item was a drawing that had been soaked through, and the colors were mostly smeared and washed away. While she studied the piece, Drednaw emerged slowly from the water, and climbed his way back up onto the docks. He let out a satisfied groan, and looked up at Nessa. "Took care of that Cramorant, didn't you? Good job." She rubbed her palm against Drednaw's face, and he rubbed it in return. "But, that Arrokuda had a drawing in its mouth when it was launched at you- here, look-" she held the soggy paper up for Drednaw to see, and his eyes widened when he realized what was on it.

"Naw!" he exclaimed, motioning towards it.

"Yeah! It's a drawing of me, isn't it?" She looked at it again. "It's all wet, but I bet it would've looked better if it was dry. Whoever made this must really admire me-"

"C-Cram...!"

"Arrok!"

Drednaw and Nessa both turned their heads back to the ocean once more, and saw the Arrokuda wriggling in the water with a very weakened Cramorant floating beside it. Drednaw made eye contact with the bird, and it flinched in response, but then it flapped its wings happily, motioning its beak at the drawing in Nessa's hand. 

"Did you... make this?" she asked the two Pokemon in the water, who were both quite upbeat now that Drednaw wasn't an immediate threat.

Cramorant nodded, and Arrokuda did a flip out of the water.

"Oh... is that why you attacked Drednaw? Were you just trying to get this to me?"

The two Pokemon responded with a happy noise.

"Well, thank you, but why didn't you just hand it to me instead of..." she prevented herself from laughing, "...hitting Drednaw?"

"CRAMOR?" the Cramorant blushed a little, and immediately retreated under the water without saying another word. The Arrokuda also followed, but left with a huge smile on its face.

Nessa and Drednaw looked at each other. "What a weird bunch- an Arrokuda helping out a Cramorant instead of fleeing? That's not something we see everyday."

"Dred..."

"Yeah, I hear ya. Let's go get something to eat, shall we?"

Nessa grabbed her rod and left with Drednaw to go get something to eat for lunch. They went out fishing once more, but the two mysterious Pokemon didn't return. When she returned home at the end of the day, she made sure to neatly frame the once-soaked drawing of her face and placed it on her shelf.

"Where'd you get that?" her father asked, a little concerned that she would frame this very oddly-drawn painting of her that looked all wrinkled and deformed.

"Just a couple of fans."

"But why frame _this?_"

Nessa chuckled. "It's rare when I get fans that only want to do something nice for me. Also, this looks so _weird_, I mean, I want to laugh out loud looking at it!"

Her father nodded in understanding, but started thinking of ways to secretly remove the horrid drawing of his daughter without her noticing.


	3. Stalked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Milo visits Stow-on-Side. Bea and Allister help him with something.

_Ah! What a beautiful day in Stow-on-Side!_

Milo rarely got the chance to visit this little town, which made the moments here even more precious to him. He usually came here to visit his friends Bea and Allister, or he goes to buy some wonderful produce and antiques that he can't find back in Turffield. One of his final tasks on his mental list of things to do was to wrap a lovely gift for his little brother. His brother didn't go out as much, considering that he was too young to go out on his own, and that he had to help his parents with whatever he could while Milo was away.

Milo had already bought the gift, and he was currently keeping it in his rucksack that was filled to the brim with goods that he planned on bringing back home. As he walked on the main street, waving gently at his fans that passed by him, he found a store that wrapped items for a small price, but it was high-quality and finalized with a cute little bow strapped around it.

_It may look a little girly, but I know for a fact that my little bro will love this!_

Milo tucked the present back into his bag, and started heading for Bea's house.

**A few hours later..**

Bea knew that Allister was very introverted, and he didn't like to go out much, so she was surprised when he just showed up to her house one day.

There was a soft knock at her front door, and she just barely heard it beneath her loud punches hitting the leather punching bag in her living room. "Hold on!" she shouted as she took off her gloves and set them on the counter. She walked over to the door and opened it, not expecting what was on the other side. "Allister? What are you doing here?" 

The young boy was wearing his signature mask that hid his true face, and he was slouching down a little while fiddling with his hands. He looked up at Bea's face, and stared into her gray eyes.

"Milo's gonna die."

Bea took a double take and blinked a few times. "Oh... that's..." How the hell does she respond to that? Allister always has the ability to just speak about death as if it was a normal thing that people usually bring up in casual conversation. Bea usually handles this, but when he's speaking about a fellow colleague that they both know, _and it's Milo, of all people, _she started to get a little worried.

"He's probably already dead," he stated, looking at some far away Pokemon that flew in the distance.

"ALLISTER-" Bea pulled the boy into her home and shut the door behind them. She took a deep breath and kneeled down next to him while setting her hand onto his shoulder. "Alli, what are you talking about? Why is Milo... dead? Probably dead?"

"Y'know he's in the city, right?"

"Yes, he stopped by just a few hours ago to say hello."

Allister didn't say anything for a few seconds. He tilted his head to one side, as if he was thinking about how to explain this whole mess. Then he leaned forward and whispered into Bea's ear, "Meet me on the rooftops near the stadium, at midnight-!" Then he escaped from Bea's grasp and bolted for the front door.

"Allister, you-"

But he had already opened the door and disappeared. Bea crossed her arms and closed her eyes. What _was_ he talking about? She rarely used her phone, but now seemed like a good time. She pulled it out of her shorts and quickly looked for Milo's number. When she found it, she sent him a quick text.

**_Bea:_** _Milo. Are you alive?_

She then realized how dumb that sounded and quickly sent another text to follow it up.

_**Bea:** Sorry, that sounded rude. What I meant was, is everything alright?_

She was about to put her phone away when it vibrated a few times in her hand. Bea was surprised that Milo responded so quickly.

_**Milo:** Hello Bea!  
_

Bea sighed in relief, knowing that Milo was in fact, _alive_.

_**Milo:**_ _I'm alright, thanks! I'm just finishing a few things before I head back to Turffield tonight._

_**Bea:** If you need any help, just let me know._

_**Milo:** Okiedokie!_

And that was it. She put her phone away and took one more look at her front door, thinking about chasing after Allister. But considering that boy was small and agile, he was probably way farther than she could search, so Bea just shook off the thought and went back to practicing her moves on the punching bag.

Soon, midnight rolled around and Bea was fully prepared for the shenanigans that were definitely about to go down tonight. She put on her most comfortable shorts, a nice-fitting t-shirt with her gym symbol on it, and headed over to the apartment rooftops near the stadium. The roof was easily accessible because there was a ladder that Allister and Bea installed on the outside a few months back. She climbed up the ladder, making sure to be careful, and reached the top, immediately looking for the young boy. He indeed was waiting for her on the roof, sitting on the ledge and kicking his legs around patiently. Bea walked over to him, and took a seat next to him, also letting her legs hang loose off of the ledge. "So, what did you want me to see?" she asked him, poking his shoulder gently.

Allister didn't say anything at first, and instead just looked out at the town that stood below the two of them. He really loved it up there, and enjoyed the beauty of Stow-on-Side at night. It was also the perfect time to observe the silent and secretive ghost Pokemon that hid from the people during the daytime. Surprisingly, that is also the exact reason why he told Bea to meet him there...

He held his hand up, signaling some sort of "wait" motion. He lifted up his legs, and shifted into a crawling position as quietly as he could. Bea followed. He then pointed at something, and Bea turned her head to see Milo, walking out of the town and onto Route 6.

"Alli, this isn't weird. Milo told me that he was going to leave late because he-"

"No. That's not what's wrong!" Allister retorted in a very harsh whisper. "Do you _see_ that?"

Bea squinted her eyes, but she didn't see anything off about the upbeat gym leader, besides the fact that he still had that floppy sunhat on his head in the middle of the night. "No, I don't see anything, Alli."

Suddenly, the stray hair-spike on Allister's head shifted in the direction of Milo. Bea remembered that the weird strand acted as a sort of dowsing rod for spirits (which sounded super fake and sketchy), but she 100% knew it worked (based on past events that will remain unnamed). She then realized what Allister had meant, and nodded to herself. "There's a ghost stalking him, or something, right?"

Allister nodded. "_Many_ ghosts. Mainly... _Lampent."_

Bea's eyes widened. She remembered the stories that Allister had told her about Lampent, and how they stalk victims who are about to die, _then_ suck out the spirits of the dead. She looked down at Allister, who didn't seem rattled about any of this. Perhaps it was because of that mask that covered his face.

"Isn't that really bad?"

"Yes. This means that he's about to die, or... well that's it, really," Allister scratched the back of his head, then looked at Bea. "We could try and... prevent his death."

"That's exactly what I was thinking, Alli. Let's go."

The two of them climbed down the ladder as quickly as they could, and started to make their way towards Route 6.

**Time Passes...**

Milo felt really tired. It was around midnight, and only the light from his little lamp that he was holding illuminated the path ahead. But despite his slight fatigue, he stood firm and kept a quick and light pace through the grass. After a few minutes of traveling, he heard a small hum that filled the air around him. "_Laa~ Laa~_"

"Oh?" Milo stopped in his tracks and looked around, but there didn't seem to be anyone on this path besides him. "That's... strange." He glanced around one more time before continuing onward, one hand holding the lamp, and the other fiddling with his scarf. The hum started to get louder as he continued on through the twists and turns of Route 6.

"_Laa~ Laaaaa~_"

The hum was even louder now, and it sounded as if it came from a source from behind him. Milo stopped again, and tensed up just a little. He took a deep breath before turning around.

"_LAAAAMPENT!_"

"Whoa-!" Milo yelped, taking a few steps back from the three Lampent that suddenly appeared out of thin air. "So you're the little singers that have been following me, right?" Milo smiled in his usual fashion as he readied one of his Pokeballs. But the Lampent didn't seem very friendly, and their flames started to shine brighter. Together in one swift motion, they all launched various fire moves at the gym leader. Milo's eyes widened at the sudden wave of fire that was now headed straight for him and began to brace himself for the impact. He could feel the heat that was about to strike him, when he heard another voice call out.

"Dusknoir, Disable!"

Milo recognized that boy's voice, and looked up from his bracing position to see that all the flames fluttered away. All the Lampent were struggling to move as well, as if they were paralyzed in mid-air.

"Milo! Are you alright?" Milo heard, and saw Bea standing next to her proud Sirfetch'd along with Allister and his Dusknoir.

Milo smiled at her and waved out of habit. "Yeah! I'm fine." He looked at Allister, "Thank you Alli!" he remarked, and getting a returning nod of acknowledgement from the masked boy.

"Milo! Now is not the time for thanks!" Bea shouted, and fixated her gaze on the Lampent behind him. "Sirfetch'd, use Knock Off before they can get up and retaliate!" The bulky bird nodded, and charged at the stunned Pokemon, using his huge leek to hit all three Lampent in one fell swoop.

The three ghostly Pokemon recoiled in pain, and were just barely hanging on. Two of the Lampent fainted, slowing falling to the ground, but one of the Lampent stayed strong, and released an Inferno that managed to engulf Bea's Sirfetch'd in the flames. Sirfetch'd cried out, but standing firm to show his strength. The flames dissipated but Bea noticed that her Pokemon's leek was still on fire. "Put out the flame!" she called out to Sirfetch'd. He tried to put it out by whacking it on the dirt a few times, and seemed to be struggling at completing this task. Bea winced for Sirfetch'd's embarrassment.

Allister noticed Sirfetch'd's predicament and ordered, "Shadow Punch!" in a very calm way, slowly raising his arm to point at the remaining Lampent. Dusknoir didn't think twice as he slammed his fist into the Lampent, who immediately went down from the sheer force.

Milo wondered if he should have done something to help, but it seemed as though Bea and Allister had it under control. The three Lampent were all defeated, and the danger was stopped. Allister walked over to Milo, and Dusknoir followed closely behind him. "You're okay?" he asked, looking up at the man (who surprisingly isn't that much taller than him) and poking his super solid arm.

"Yeah I'm okay, Alli. Sorry I didn't call out my Pokemon to help, I mean, you guys really finished the battle quite fast," he started brushing his scarf against his cheek again with worry. Milo felt bad for not helping at all, but Allister shook his head slightly, and smiled (probably).

"It's fine..." he turned around, "right Bea?" 

Bea wasn't currently paying attention and was still trying to help her Sirfetch'd put out the flame on his leek. "See, she agrees with me." Allister walked over to the three Lampent that were spread across the ground. "What shall we do with you...?" he whispered to himself, eyes now visible through his mask.

Before Milo continued on his path home, he set his bag down on the ground and ran over to Bea to help her and Sirfetch'd with their predicament. He requested that he be handed the leek, and Sirfetch'd hesitated for a moment before handing it over to Milo. Milo looked at the flame on the top of the leek-sword, and took one of his hands to grasp the tip of it, covering the flame completely with his huge hand. Bea's eyes widened in worry, but after Milo let go of the tip, the flame was gone. His hand wasn't even burnt.

"There we go," he said, handing the sword back to the cheerful Sirfetch'd, who let out a thankful quack in response. Bea just looked at Milo like he was crazy, but he didn't seem to notice.

The three gym leaders talked for a few minutes before saying their goodbyes, and Milo walked over to his bag and picked it up. Unfortunately, as he picked it up, one of the Lampent had managed to crawl over and grasp onto it, now dangling from its sides. Milo tilted his head, and looked at the weak Lampent who was doing everything in its power not to let go. "Oh, uh... is there something you... want?"

"_Laampeeeent..." _it struggled to say, as it finally gave up and fell off of Milo's bag onto the ground below. "_Laaaam..." _the Lampent looked up at Milo.

"Man, that Pokemon is very ambitious, isn't it?" Bea stated in a more confused tone, wondering why this Lampent was still trying to get the attention of Milo even after it got defeated. "Is it trying to say something to you?" she asked Milo, who shook his head.

"Yes..." Allister whispered, "it is trying to... retrieve what it lost..."

"You're telling this to us now?" Bea questioned, waving one of her hands in the air.

"He wasn't really saying anything before besides yelling..." Allister shrugged.

Milo looked back down at the Lampent again, who was now trying to _hug_ one of Milo's bulky legs. The farmer felt so terribly bad for this Pokemon who seemed so helpless in this moment, (even though it tried to kill him a few minutes before), and kneeled down next to it, opening his bag in the process. "Tell me," Milo whispered, "what are you looking for?"

The Lampent said a few words and Allister listened closely. "It's looking for a _friendship ringer? _Whatever that is..." Allister stated, looking at Milo who started digging through his bag.

Bea crossed her arms. "Friendship ringer? What the hell is a friendship ringer?"

"It's this!" Milo exclaimed, finally pulling out a small present that looked very nicely wrapped with a cute bow on the top. Bea and Allister gave each other the same confused look, (or at least, Bea thought Allister gave her the same look).

"That looks nice..." Allister commented. Milo nodded.

"Yeah, it was for my younger brother." He started unwrapping the gift, beginning with the bow. "I bought this at the antique shop in that one shady alleyway where it always smells like beautiful roses... but it seems that these Lampent are attached to it. Ah! Here we go!" Milo opened his hand to reveal a small, gray bell that had an odd shine to it, probably from the rust. The bell was connected to a small, purple-colored string that could fit around a person's neck. "The owner of the shop told me that this was an ancient soothe bell that certain Pokemon wore to protect themselves from danger."

Bea squinted at the item in Milo's hand. "An ancient soothe bell? So that's what Lampent wanted this whole time? Some bell?"

"It looks pretty..." Allister commented again.

"I guess," Milo chuckled, and noticed the Lampent beneath him suddenly rise up and move in circles around him. "Here, you can have it." Milo held out his hand and smiled brightly at the Lampent who quickly snatched the bell out of his hand. The Lampent floated away just a little, and shook it a few times, making the bell send out a few weak chimes.

Suddenly, the other two Lampent rose up from their short rest and gathered around their leader, who continued to shake the bell a few more times.

After a close inspection of the bell, they all smiled and looked really happy to have this bell back in their possession. The three of them all started to take off, back towards the town without saying another word.

The gym leaders watched them run away in silence.

"They were kinda cute... weren't they?" Milo asked Bea and Allister.

"Yeah, because getting burned alive is _very_ cute, Milo," Bea said sarcastically, returning Sirfetch'd to his Pokeball.

Allister just nodded in silence.

Milo sighed with relief, but was a little sad about losing the bell he was going to give to his brother. His brother's friend, Yamper, wanted a bell that it could wear when running around with the fields with him.

"Well, I guess I'll get going," Milo said, picking up his bag with one arm and swinging it around his shoulder. "I still have some ways to go, so I shouldn't stay here for long!" He waved at Bea and Allister, who in return, waved back.

The two of them watched Milo walk away until he was completely out of their view.

"Crumbs... that was kinda anti-climatic..." Allister whispered to himself. "Imagine if Milo actually died... heheheh..."

Bea pretended like she didn't hear that, and they both walked back to Stow-on-Side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On Allister's concept art, it says that his one strand of hair detects ghosts, which I find absolutely hilarious, and is totally canon in this story.
> 
> Thanks for reading hehehehehheh~


	4. Passion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kabu loses a battle.

"Centiskorch!" Kabu yelled from the stadium, with rain pouring down on him and the entire crowd. Centiskorch had just shrunk back down to his normal size, along with the challenger's Gyarados. "Dodge it!"

But he was too slow and a huge blast of water slammed into it. Centiskorch could barely hold on, as it was previously hit with a couple Max Geysers that caused the entire stadium to be flooded with heavy downpour, and how a Hydro Pump directly in the face. The rain certainly didn't help its current position, but it still got back up and stared at the Gyarados with its unrelenting gaze.

Yet Kabu could feel the pain that his own partner was in. He was breathing quite heavily, noticing the shaking legs of Centiskorch and the dwindling fire on its antennae.

But it wasn't over yet.

Kabu ordered Centiskorch to unleash a few more moves, hitting the Gyarados while taking some hits itself. The battle dragged on for a few more minutes, with the crowd stunned and amazed that a battle with Kabu was lasting for so long.

But suddenly Kabu realized it was, in fact, all over.

"Gyarados, use Hyper Beam!" the challenger shouted, still soaked from the rain. The Gyarados let out an unnerving roar and released a beam of energy that absolutely destroyed Kabu's Centiskorch, making it curl up and twitch a little on the ground.

The rain stopped.

Kabu stood there, looking down at his fallen Pokemon, and then fell to the ground as well, on his knees. He stared at the ground, fists clenched and teeth gritted.

_I lost again._

The challenger was celebrating, patting his Gyarados on the head and then returning it to its Pokeball. After a few deep breaths, Kabu stood up and returned Centiskorch to his Pokeball, whispering a few thanks to it.

He looked across the field, and saw the trainer walking towards the middle of the stadium, proudly awaiting his gym badge. Kabu nodded to himself, remembering why he battled in the first place. He straightened his back and jogged over to the challenger.

"As I'm often regarded as the first real road block of the Gym Challenge, beating me means that you and your Pokemon must have some real potential," Kabu said, holding out his hand. "Thank you for the wonderful battle, and continue to train so you can become even stronger."

The challenger smirked. "Thanks, sir. This was definitely a fun battle," he said, reaching out and shaking Kabu's hand.

Kabu handed the trainer his gym badge, and he left quickly, aligning the badge onto his little medallion.

That battle was the last of the day, and Kabu returned to the locker room, packing his things and saying his goodbyes to his fellow gym trainers. Making sure to throw on his blackened trench coat, he left the stadium and started to walk over to the Pokemon Center.

He healed his Pokemon, greeted a few fans, and then started the trek home.

**Hours Later...**

Kabu awoke to the sound of a knock at his door.

He groaned, wondering what time it even was as he slowly got up and out of his bed. He cracked his neck and stretched his arms as he walked over to the door and opened it, revealing a younger man who was also in his night wear.

"S-Sir, I don't mean to bother you..."

Kabu raised an eyebrow. "What do you need?" he asked, maybe a bit too forceful. He didn't mean to sound annoyed, but it _was_ the middle of the night on a weekday.

"Well, I was about to head to bed when I heard something coming from the hallway. I took a peek out from my door and saw a Centiskorch puttering past me, looking quite furious." He pointed to the staircase that led down. "He went that way, if you're wondering."

Kabu looked at the man with an even more confused look, and then looked back in his own room, as if he was expecting to see something different. But nothing was different, nothing had moved, and everything was in place. Somehow, Centiskorch had managed to vacate Kabu's apartment without making a single sound, yet when it had finally left the apartment, it apparently gave up. Kabu looked back at the younger man and nodded. "Thank you for letting me know."

The younger man nodded back in response, and went back to his room. Kabu shut the door and quickly ran over to his Pokemon's room. Ninetales was buried in her fluffy tails, Arcanine was snoring loudly with Salazzle laying against him, and Torkoal was in the corner, tucked against a pillow. Kabu scanned the room, and Centiskorch was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh no..." Kabu whispered to himself, trying not to wake any of his friends. He hurried over to his coat rack and threw on his trench coat as he left his apartment, going after Centiskorch.

Centiskorch was very competitive, just like Kabu.

Recently Kabu has had a bit of a losing streak, and his younger self would have been furious and enraged at this fact. But now that Kabu was much older and wiser, training for many years with his fellow fire-type partners, he knew that losing was just another step in getting stronger. Of course, losing still hurt his pride, but he made sure to never make it a huge personal problem and instead, he focuses on all the good parts that happened during a battle, even when he loses.

Such as today, when his Ninetales had successfully burned multiple opponents with her Will-o-Wisp, and how his Arcanine was able to utilize his ability to cut his opponents' attack. Even Centiskorch showed much skill, being able to take multiple super-effective hits and still remain standing on the field.

But it seemed as though Centiskorch took the losses _even harder_ than Kabu, to the point where running away into the Wild Area in the middle of the night sounded like a good idea.

Kabu jogged all the way over to the Wild Area, and asked a few passerby if they've seen his Pokemon. A few tourists said they saw some long Pokemon heading towards the lake, and Kabu followed their directions.

The area around the lake was completely occupied by many water-type Pokemon, making it very dangerous for Centiskorch to travel there all alone. And to make the night even worse, it was raining very heavily, soaking Kabu right through his coat and clothing. But he couldn't quit, for he had to find his friend.

"CENTISKORCH!" Kabu called, his voice muffled by the heavy rainfall. He saw a few Pelipper flying around, along with a couple Quagsire in the lakes around him. The Pokemon made eye contact with him, but didn't seem to be bothered. Kabu started breathing heavily. For his age, he was certainly very fit and quite resilient, but even so, he wasn't the young man he used to be, and being out in this horrible weather was starting to take a toll on him. He used one hand to pull his coat closer to his body, and the other to try and block the rain slamming into his face.

Kabu called out Centiskorch's name once again, but there was no response.

Instead, there was a loud screeching noise that felt like it shook the Earth itself. Kabu almost toppled over (but caught himself), and looked at the direction where he had heard it. He could barely see anything, but he did happen to notice some similar flames in an "X" shape that wriggled through the rain. 

_There!_

Kabu gathered up his energy and ran as fast as he could towards his Centiskorch.

But he _didn't_ realize that there was a rock that stuck out in an odd manner from the ground, making Kabu trip over it, falling onto the wet grass below. His fall made an odd squelching sound, one that Centiskorch managed to hear through the rain.

Centiskorch glanced back and saw his trainer now on his hands and knees in the rain, absolutely soaked from head to toe, shaking a little from the shock of falling. But before he could do anything about it, his foe screamed again, releasing another powerful blast at Centiskorch.

Centiskorch quickly snapped his head back at his foe, a huge Seismitoad that was seriously infuriated, and flattened his body so that the Hyper Voice passed right over him.

WHAM!

Centiskorch's body glimmered a faint green color as it slithered up to the Seismitoad and used Power Whip to knock the Seismitoad off of its feet. Getting ready for another hit, Centiskorch jumped up above Seismitoad. But Seismitoad took this opportunity to attack and punched with a doubly powerful Payback right into the bug's body.

He let out a cry of pain and fell to the ground, digging his multiple feet into the mud. 

_"Centiskorch! Stop!"_

Centiskorch lunged at the Seismitoad, using the momentum from the ground to launch himself at the bulky Pokemon with full force. He made contact with the opponent's huge fist, dealing minor damage yet definitely causing some pain. Centiskorch barely seemed to notice its own flames slowly dying out, but Kabu certainly did, knowing that Centiskorch was pressuring itself too much.

Seismitoad opened its mouth and released a huge blast of Muddy Water at Centiskorch, who dodged by ducking to the left (knowing that a water-type attack in the rain would HURT) and then tried to retaliate by getting in close and using Crunch. 

But Seismitoad was quicker than expected, looking directly at the face of the bug before it slammed its fist into the ground, causing huge pillars of stone to protrude from the ground at an alarming speed.

A few pillars made direct contact with Centiskorch, throwing him up into the rain and farther away. His vision faded for a moment, as he started to fall from the sky. Seismitoad readied another Muddy Water as it took a huge breath and unleashed it at the flightless bug.

This time, it hit, causing every single one of Centiskorch's flames to disappear as he hit the ground. He was wet, tired, and in much pain.

But he couldn't stop now...

His eyes fluttered open, looking up at the Seismitoad that stood away from him.

It glared at him, lowering its head as if it was giving out a warning.

Centiskorch tried to get up, and winced in pain from the multiple bruises caused by that Earth Power. But somehow, he managed to get back up on his feet, and attempted to move closer to his opponent. Except, he felt something wrap around him, preventing him from moving any closer. Centiskorch hissed in response, and looked back with one eye at what had stopped him.

It was Kabu.

Kabu held his Pokemon tightly, making sure that he didn't try and fight again. "C-Centiskorch...!" Kabu shouted, making sure that his Pokemon heard him clearly. The storm was worse now, with bolts of lighting filling the sky every so often. The sound of thunder shook the ground, but Kabu made sure to hold on. "You need to stop!"

Centiskorch cried out, trying to remove itself from his trainer's grasp.

"Please, calm down! You're badly injured!" Kabu had to really hold on to his Pokemon, since Centiskorch was so slim and could easily escape from Kabu's grasp if he made even a single opening. In the distance, the Seismitoad watched the human prevent its opponent from making a comeback, so it decided that it won. It slowly wandered off, walking back into the lake.

Minutes had passed, and Kabu could feel his arms weakening from the constant writhing of Centiskorch. But Centiskorch was starting to feel a bit under the weather as well, with all the rain hitting him and the grip of his trainer staying firm. He suddenly stopped moving completely, and slumped into Kabu's arms. Kabu's eyes widened, thinking Centiskorch had fainted, but to his surprise, it was whining and slowly starting to curl up around Kabu, almost covering him.

Kabu took a few deep breaths, and also fell to his knees on the wet grass below. "Centiskorch," Kabu started, rubbing its head, "I know how you feel. Losing a battle can be tough, I get it. But that doesn't mean you should succumb to that anger inside of you."

The bug glanced up at Kabu and looked straight into his dark eyes.

"One thing I've learned over the many years of my life is that you don't have to please anyone else besides yourself. Don't worry about what others will think of you, because you'll just forget who you truly are."

Kabu pulled Centiskorch in for a hug.

"I'm proud of you, Centiskorch. I've always been proud of you."

Centiskorch blinked a few times before leaning in closer to Kabu, completing the hug. It made a soft hissing noise of thanks before it finally knocked out.

Usually Kabu wasn't so touchy and soft, but his Centiskorch really needed someone to talk to.

And Kabu would always be there for him, even in a midnight thunderstorm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I absolutely adore Kabu. I see him as an old man with a hard shell but soft insides.  
(Also, has anyone seen the Twilight Wings series? I think it's absolutely amazing!)
> 
> Hopefully I start writing some more. It's been a while since my last chapter- but anyway-  
Thanks for reading!
> 
> All the Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated! :)  
(Seriously like some of you are so nice--!)


	5. Rock...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gordie's bored. A visit to Milo's home gives him an idea.
> 
> (DISCLAIMER: This chapter is literally about that one game we all played in school. Yes, Rock-Paper-Scissors. Now you might be wondering, how the hell is this 5500-word chapter about R.P.S.? Well, let me tell you, I honestly have no idea what I was thinking. Is it repetitive? Yes. Is it kinda weird? Yes. Anyway, enjoy the story?)

** Turffield **

Gordie was entirely too bored. It was his mother's turn to be the gym leader in Circhester, so he didn't get the chance to battle trainers as much as he liked. He still went out and said hello to his fans, but he truly missed the thrill of battle, and crushing his opponents with devastating losses.

He was currently taking his break in Turffield, visiting his good friend and co-worker, Milo. They were out on Milo's family farm, watching the Wooloo roam around and... eat grass, or whatever. They were both sitting on their own foldable chairs that Milo had pulled out from some shed behind their house, and drinking some freshly made berry tea.

Gordie enjoyed the berry tea, but he downed it in two gulps, instead of gradually sipping it as Milo did. He didn't want to ask Milo's mother for more, so he just sat there, continuing to stare at the Wooloo. For Milo, watching the Wooloo was relaxing and a great way to pass the time, but Gordie couldn't handle the silence and the nice breeze that brushed across his face.

"Milo, is this what you do all day?" Gordie asked without looking at Milo. Milo took another sip of his tea and chuckled.

"Of course not, Gordie. I've already finished my chores for today."

"Ah."

Milo closed his eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath. "This is one of the best parts of living here, on this farm. The cool breeze, the calming silence, and watching the cute Wooloo just living their daily lives is _so_ amazing." He opened his eyes, and turned his head towards Gordie. "What do you think?"

Gordie crossed his arms. "I don't mean to be rude, but sitting here is fuckin' boring, Milo. I have no idea how you do it."

Milo smiled. He was good friends with Gordie, and Milo knew that he was a good man, despite his_ harsher_ way of speaking at times.

"You'll get used to it, trust me."

"MILO!" a lighter voice shouted, from way across the field.

"Oh?" Milo's eyes widened and he looked around for the source of the voice. "I'm over here!" Milo shouted back. Gordie wondered how Milo could shout and _still_ sound super polite at the same time. Milo stood up from his chair, setting his glass down on the little table between him and Gordie, and looked around once more.

"Who was that?" Gordie asked, continuing to sit.

"I think it's Arlo. I can recognize his voice, ahah~"

As he said that, the image of a younger boy came popping up from over the hills, with a hat similar to Milo's, and a happy Yamper running alongside him.

The boy ran up and over to Milo, stopping just in front of him.

"Guess what?! Guess what?!"

Milo's smile turned into a huge grin, as being around his younger brother always seemed to put him in a better mood. "Yes, what is it?" Milo asked, tilting his head to the side and watching his brother closely.

Gordie let out a tiny, yet genuine smile, as Milo's younger brother reminded him of his own siblings. But he quickly looked away, not wanting to show Milo his super secret soft side (even though Milo wasn't even paying attention to Gordie).

Arlo reached into his pocket and, to Milo's suprise, pulled out some Pokedollars. "I was playing a game with my friends and I won!"

Milo didn't say anything for a moment, surprised that Arlo would be playing with friends who would use money as a reward for anything, but Milo repressed all the sudden negative thoughts that were bombarding his brain and let out a weak chuckle. "That's... great! What game were you playing?"

"Rock-paper-scissors, of course! It's the easiest game one can play!" Arlo's Yamper barked a few times, looking very proud and wagging its tail happily.

Gordie returned his gaze to Milo and Arlo, and blinked a few times at how much cash this kid was holding. The pile was thicker than the kid's own wrist, and Gordie could feel the forced smile oozing from Milo.

"I'm going to go and spend it on something nice! Ooh- maybe I can buy mother and father some berries!"

"Arlo..." Milo started, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Why don't you go tell mother and father what you won first! Or at least ask them what _kind_ of berries they would want?"

Arlo didn't even question Milo's suggestion, and nodded with a bright grin on his face. "Okay! That's a better idea! Thanks Milo!" Arlo said, running back home with Yamper at his side.

Milo waved at his brother as he ran back, and once he was out of sight, Milo took a huge breath, closing his eyes and crossing his arms.

"He didn't even ask for my autograph," Gordie joked.

Milo politely scoffed at the statement and shook his head before sitting back down. "I'm... I'm going to have to cut this break of ours short, Gordie."

"Aww, I was _finally_ starting to like sitting here and doing _nothing._" Gordie expected another response from Milo, whether it be just another scoff or a light chuckle, but all he got was a halfhearted smile from the farmer, who was fiddling with his neck-scarf. "Milo, don't do that shit with me."

"What?"

"SOMETHING is obviously on your mind, so let me have it," Gordie said, adjusting his shades.

Milo didn't even hesitate, and replied with, "Arlo getting money from the other kids bothers me."

"Why? If I was given a shitload of money, I would totally want to-"

Milo glanced at Gordie with a look that made him trail off. It wasn't a glare, or even a scowl, but just a genuine look of worry for his younger brother.

"Look, sometimes, the rich kids make fun of him for being a... farmer. I think... it's very..."

"Stupid?"

"..._odd,_ that these same kids would just_ give_ him _that_ much money for winning a game. Is it out of pity? Are they trying to force Arlo to hang out with them? Are they secretly making fun of him behind their backs?" Milo sighed, grabbing his tea from the table and twirling it in around in his hands. "Maybe I'm just overthinking this. I'm probably overthinking this. I'm just going to go and talk with my parents and see what they think."

Gordie started tapping his fingers on the table beside him, thinking about what to say without sounding like a total asshole. Gordie knew that Milo's personality was very soft-hearted and kind, but even a guy like him could be annoyed with enough sarcastic comments.

"You're doing fine, Milo. Besides, you could probably crush those kids between your hands if you wanted to."

Milo leaned forward and almost spit out his entire drink. He coughed as Gordie started to laugh and patted him a couple times on the back.

"G-Gordie, w-what-? No! NO! Don't- don't say things like that."

But Milo couldn't hide that smile underneath his scarf as he stood up once more and picked up Gordie's empty glass on the table. Gordie got up as well, stretching his arms and brushing his hand through his hair a couple times.

"Well, thanks for visiting me, you're always welcome here, of course," Milo stated, and gave Gordie his usual smile. Gordie smirked.

"Sure, Milo. Tell your mother the tea was amazing."

"I will!"

Gordie nodded and was about to walk away when a thought hit him. He quickly snapped his head back to Milo (who was already starting to walk away) and ran over to him. "HEY-"

Milo quickly turned back around and tilted his head to the side. "Oh? What is it?"

"I CHALLENGE YOU- to a rock-paper-scissors match. Right here. Right now. One-on-one."

Milo blinked a few times. "Uh... why?" he asked as kindly as possible.

"BECAUSE, even though watching the grass grow was very boring, it was the only thing I had to do at this current moment in time. So _NOW_ I have to find something else to do, and your brother gave me an idea with the whole incident." Gordie struck a pose out of habit, and exclaimed, "I AM GOING TO CHALLENGE ALL THE GYM LEADERS TO THE MOST SERIOUS GAME OF ROCK-PAPER-SCISSORS THEY WILL EVER HAVE TO BE INVOLVED IN!"

Milo stood there, two empty glasses in hand, and a look of pure confusion on his face.

"...sure?"

"Alright! GET READY."

Milo didn't have any problem holding both cups in one hand, so he used his free hand to partake in this game. Gordie rolled up his sleeves, taking this way too seriously for some reason, and then exclaimed-

"Rock... paper... SCISSORS!"

Milo held out paper as Gordie held out scissors.

"YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAH!" Gordie shouted, thrusting his arms into the air, celebrating his victory.

Milo laughed at how ridiculous this whole situation was, and how Gordie was able to take something so simple and make it a huge deal.

"I thought you were going to use rock... because... you know. You're the rock-type gym leader?"

Gordie gave Milo an overly exaggerated gasp, acting very surprised and hurt that he would even assume such a thing. It made Milo feel a bit better, though.

"Alright, alright, I gotta' go Gordie. Stay safe out there," Milo said, turning around and waving goodbye.

Gordie waved back as the farmer walked away. 

But now, the real fun started.

** Hulbury **

Nessa had received a mysterious text from Milo a while ago, which made her really worried all of a sudden.

_**Milo:** Don't question him. :)_

Nessa didn't know what the hell Milo was talking about, or who this "him" was- and he even put a smiley face at the end. Was this some secret code for something? 

She was at the lighthouse, leaning against the railing that prevented anyone from accidentally falling off into the ocean. Nessa had wanted to go fishing today, but a wild Chewtle had nibbled through her fishing pole, so she had to wait for it to be fixed. So instead, she just watched the ocean in front of her, examining all of the Pokemon that jumped up out of the water.

The ocean was calming, and sometimes Nessa wished she could swim underwater forever alongside the other Pokemon.

Totally entranced by the ocean, she didn't even notice the figure that swooped up next to her.

"So, is staring at literally nothing common for people, or is it just me?"

Nessa's entire form shook as she jumped to the side, whipping her head around and looking at whoever appeared next to her.

"What the hell, Gordie?" Nessa yelped, lowering her raised fists. 

"Hello to you too, Nessa," Gordie smirked.

"I swear, you're awfully agile for someone of your size," she muttered, fixing her hair and returning to her original position. "Why are you here?" she asked, making direct eye contact and crossing her arms.

Gordie gave her a huge grin before striking a pose (similar to the one he gave Milo) and shouting, "I CHALLENGE YOU, NESSA, TO A ROCK-PAPER-SCISSORS GAME!"

Nessa squinted her eyes at the man. "What?"

"You heard me, now- get ready!"

Gordie placed one fist onto the palm of his hand, ready to start the game, but Nessa was still trying to wrap her head around what Gordie had just asked her to do.

Then, she remembered Milo's text from earlier, and assumed that this is that he meant by "not questioning him." 

Without saying another word, Nessa nodded and made a fist with one of her hands. She didn't want to admit it, but she was extremely competitive when doing any activity, not just battling.

"Rock... paper... SCISSORS!"

Nessa held out rock as Gordie _also_ held out rock.

Nessa frowned. "Ah, a tie. I guess that means we redo-"

"I win."

"What?!"

"I won."

"No you didn't! It was a tie! We BOTH played rock!"

Gordie pushed up the shades on his face and put a hand on his hip. "No, no. You don't understand, Nessa. See, _I _challenged_ you._ That means you must defeat me by winning, or else you lose."

"That doesn't make ANY sense. You just don't want to re-"

"Nessa, you lost. Go back to staring at the water, or something."

Before Nessa could retort back, Gordie slipped away and ran off.

Nessa let out a frustrated sigh and pulled out her phone.

_**Nessa:** you knew_

_**Milo:** Did you win?_

_**Nessa:** no_

** Motostoke **

Kabu was chilling in the Battle Cafe. It was quite empty today, surprisingly. Usually the place is riled up with plenty of trainers and battles to watch, but only he and a few other people sat in the cafe. Kabu actually appreciated the silence in an odd way, glad to not be hearing the shouts that one would normally hear when dining at this place.

Kabu knew the owner well, Dwight was his name (or "Cafe Master Dwight"), and he usually gives Kabu a discount when dining there. Today, Kabu had simply ordered a lemonade, freshly squeezed, and it was the perfect mix of sour and sweet.

Kabu closed his eyes, taking another slow and refreshing sip of his lemonade when he heard the sound of scraping wood next to him. He opened one eye, and looked over to see someone who had sat across from him in the other stool.

"Heya, Kabu."

Kabu opened both eyes and slowly set his lemonade back onto the table. "Gordie," he replied, without a change of tone in his voice. "I'm surprised to see you here."

Gordie smiled. "Yes, well, I've been looking for you."

"Looking for me?"

"Yep!" Gordie slammed a fist onto the small table in excitement, but quickly regretted it when Kabu's lemonade almost toppled over. Kabu quickly grasped it, and let go after a few seconds. He raised an eyebrow at Gordie.

"Uh... Kabu, _sir,_ I challenge you to a rock-paper-scissors game."

Kabu just stared at Gordie for a moment, directly in the eyes. Gordie felt like Kabu was shooting lasers right through his shades.

But instead of rejecting, Kabu gave Gordie a small grin, and held out a fist.

Gordie rejoiced in his own head before holding out his own fist.

"Alright. Only one game, sir."

"Understood."

"Rock... paper... SCISSORS!"

Kabu held out paper and Gordie fought back with scissors.

"Yesssssss-" Gordie silently cheered, trying not to be too loud in an oddly silent Battle Cafe.

Kabu nodded slowly, accepting his defeat.

"Well done. Is that all you needed from me?"

"Yep! Thanks, Kabu," Gordie said, getting up from the stool and leaving Kabu all by himself once more.

Dwight looked over at Kabu and gave him a questioning look.

Kabu shrugged and continued to drink his lemonade.

** Stow-on-Side **

Bea was just doing her own thing as usual, training at home since it was Allister's turn to be the gym leader. Sometimes she would go and watch the matches, but recently, training has been the more important thing to do.

She looked out her window and decided to go out and train in the wild area for the rest of the day. Bea grabbed all her things, stuffed them into a bag, and opened her front door. She walked out, and made sure her door was locked before turning around again to see a figure standing right in front of her.

"GAH!"

Bea instinctively released a punch, and hit whoever was in front of her.

"OW, Bea what the FUCK?"

Bea quickly pulled her fists back in and now realized that the figure was Gordie, shades and everything. "Oh... shit." Gordie was rubbing the side of his arm when Bea sighed. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"I didn't!" Gordie remarked, quickly regaining his composure to hide any more pain. "Ahem- I was _literally_ about to knock on your door. Then you came out." Gordie was obviously trying to not rub his arm that was sore, and Bea shook her head.

"I'm sorry Gordie, but let's be honest, that was entirely your fault."

Gordie scoffed at the now smirking Bea. "You. Suck."

Bea rolled her eyes and pushed past him. "I'm going out for a bit, come back later."

"What? NO-!"

Gordie quickly ran in front of Bea, stopping her from walking any further. They were about the same height, which made the conversation even more intense. "Before you go and punch rocks- _how dare you-_ I want to challenge you..." he struck a pose, causing his arm to throb in pain (just a little), "...to a rock-paper-scissors game!"

Bea smacked her lips together. "A... rock-paper-scissors game? Why?"

"Just do it, and I'll leave."

"Good enough for me."

The two gym leaders held out their fists. Bea nodded, letting Gordie know that she was ready.

"Rock... paper... SCISSORS!"

Bea held out scissors and Gordie also held out scissors.

"Ah, it's a tie. Wonderful. So do we go again or-?"

"Nope, if it's a tie, that means I won."

"What are you talking about? That's not how the game works, Gordie."

"It certainly does. 100 percent."

"No? No it doesn't?" Bea gave him a confused look, but he ignored it and looked around.

"D'you know where little Allister is?" he asked her, knowing that Bea and Allister were the bestest of friends.

"Why? So you can challenge _him_ to a botched game of rock-paper-scissors?"

"It is not botched, BEA."

Bea sighed and shook her head once more. Gordie was certainly an interesting man, she'll give him that. "He's in the stadium."

"Coolio, thanks Bea!" he said as he ran off towards the stadium. Bea watched him run off before calling a Flying Taxi to take her to the wild area.

** Stow-on-Side Stadium **

Gordie had waited in the locker room for Allister to finish the battle he was currently in. He watched the last few minutes on the television that hung on the wall, and saw that the battle ended before Allister even Dynamaxed.

Allister slowly walked into the room, slouching and wearing that same mask on his face, and saw the rock-type gym leader sitting on the other side of the room.

Gordie waved him over, and Allister nodded. He made his way over and plopped himself onto the bench next to Gordie.

"Mmmm... hello..." Allister spoke, in a slight whisper. He wasn't entirely confident around Gordie yet (since they rarely spoke), but he definitely trusted the man.

"Allister! That was an amazing battle!" Gordie commented. "You didn't even have to Dynamax to win!"

Allister lowered his head. "T-thanks..."

Gordie smiled. "Hey, could you do me a quick favor?"

The young boy looked up at Gordie. 

"I challenge you to a rock-paper-scissors game!"

"Oh...? Okay..."

Gordie held up his fist, same as usual, and Allister did the same, but there was a problem.

"Hey, uh... I can't see your hands."

"Mmmm?" Allister looked down at his hand and remembered that the gym uniform was too big and caused the sleeves to extend past his wrists. "Heheh... let me fix that..." He pulled up his one sleeve and his very pale skin almost blinded Gordie.

"Right. Rock... paper... SCISSORS!"

Allister held out paper, and Gordie also held out paper.

"Aww... it was a tie..."

Gordie was about to mention that he was the one who _actually_ won, but was arguing with a child worth it? Probably not, especially if it was Allister.

"Yes, it does seem to be that way," Gordie strained, putting on a wonderful smile for the boy. 

"Can we play again?" Allister asked, almost breaking Gordie's super-secret fragile heart. 

"Errrr, no... because I'm doing a challenge. I can only play with each gym leader once."

"Oooh! A challenge! Did you challenge Bea yet?" Allister's voice got way higher when he mentioned Bea.

"Hah, yes, I did," Gordie said, brushing his hair away with his hand, trying to act cool.

"Did she win?"

"NOPE. Total loss on her part." _She also punched me._ "She'll try to lie to you and say that she won, but she didn't."

"Ah... sure..."

Gordie glanced at this child that sat next to him. Something about him always felt a little off, but he could never really understood what that feeling was.

"Anyway, I'll be going now. I know you have some more battles so partake in, so have fun!"

"Bye... Gordie..."

** Ballonlea **

Opal was about to enter Glimwood Tangle when she saw someone running straight for her.

"LADY OPAL!" the man shouted, now revealing himself to be Gordie.

"Ahh... there is no need to shout, young man," Opal stated in a serious tone, but it had a hint of lightheartedness to it. Gordie ran over to the older lady and took a few breaths, as he had just ran from Stow-on-Side, through Glimwood Tangle, all the way to Ballonlea.

"Opal, I've... come to challenge you... to a-"

"A battle? Sorry, dear. But I have something else I plan on doing."

Gordie fixed his hair and pushed up his shades that were half-fallen off his face. "No, not a battle. A rock-paper-scissors game!" Gordie said that a little too enthusiastically to the point where he realized how ridiculous that probably sounded to a lady like Opal.

Opal turned her head to the side, tapping her umbrella a few times on the ground below. "That's absolutely ridiculous, Gordie. We both know that playing a game of rock-paper-scissors would be a complete waste of our time, because you should know that I would absolutely _crush you_ and your little dreams of ever winning against me."

Gordie's mouth opened as if he wanted to say something, but nothing came out of that shocked man. He glared at Opal, who had this very refined smirk on her face.

"Oh, so that's how it's going to be, eh?" Gordie pushed up his sleeves and shot back his own refined smirk that took years to perfect.

"Now, now, that's no way to talk to an older lady, is it?"

"I've always respected you, Opal."

"Yes, yes. Well, let's hurry up then, I don't want to leave the Champion in the forest forever, you know."

For some reason, it didn't click in Gordie's head that she had just mentioned the Champion, as he was just focused on beating her in this very serious game of R.P.S.

"Okay! Rock...paper...SCISSORS!"

Gordie had released a devastating rock, and for some reason, Opal had decided to go just a little bit slower than Gordie, allowing her to observe his rock and strike back with an even more unrelenting hand of paper.

"Wha-? N-no. No. NO. You cheated. I _SAW_ that."

"Ahh, can't accept defeat, can you Gordie?"

"NO. Opal don't do this. I _will_ come back for revenge. This- this is blasphemy."

Opal lifted her umbrella and just walked past Gordie, into the forest.

"Wait till I tell your mother about this... I beat her child in a game of rock-paper-scissors... ahahah~"

Gordie wanted to crawl into the nearest hole, and die.

** Hammerlocke **

"You should think about it."

"No."

Raihan pulled out his phone and started replying to a text he had just received. "But imagine if you _did._ You're already one of the strongest trainer's that I've ever fought, and you don't even Dynamax in battle." 

Piers put a hand on his own shoulder and shrugged. "I'm not gonna' abandon my hometown, Raihan."

Raihan looked up from his phone for a quick second at Piers, and saw the man looking down at the floor. "I'm not saying _that_, Piers! I'm just saying that maybe people would pay more attention to you if... you would just expand your horizons a bit more, yeah? You're already a popular songwriter and performer, so maybe you could use that to your advantage." 

Piers glared at the man who was still texting on his Rotom phone (who could somehow grasp the entirety of the case with just one hand), and shook his head. 

Raihan finished up the text and slid his phone back into his pocket. The two gym leaders were waiting outside of the Hammerlocke stadium for Chairman Rose, who had contacted the two of them and arranged some sort of meeting. Raihan didn't know why the Chairman would only contact him and Piers, but it definitely had to be important.

Suddenly Raihan noticed something running towards him from behind Piers (Raihan is just a bit taller, making him able to look above Piers' head). He moved to the side a bit, looking far behind Piers, causing the other gym leader to be curious at what Raihan was staring at.

Piers first thought Raihan was looking at his hair, the poofy and messy ponytails that weren't brushed at all, but as he turned around to look in the same direction as Raihan, Piers also saw someone running towards them.

Piers sighed when he realized who it was, but Raihan waved happily.

"Hey! If it isn't my man, Gordie," Raihan greeted, as Gordie ran up to the two of them. The guy was _a lot_ shorter than both Piers and Raihan, but that didn't stop him from acting any different, in fact, Gordie had a lot of respect for Raihan.

The two of them were both very popular among social media, and they would both try to casually one-up each other when posting a selfie or even something as simple as a status update. Gordie and Raihan call it "friendly competition," even when Gordie knows that even Raihan is just a bit more popular than he is (even though Gordie would never admit it).

_(But no one could top Leon's insane amount of followers and presence on social media.)_

Gordie hi-fived his friend Raihan, and saw Piers casually sulking a bit to the side. "Sup, Piers," Gordie said with a smirk and a three-fingered wave. He knew that Piers didn't really like him that much, but Gordie tried to retain a simple acquaintanceship with the man so it didn't end up being a hate-hate sort of deal. 

Piers nodded back, saying nothing.

Raihan didn't seem to notice the subtle tension between the two and asked, "So what's a guy like you doing in Hammerlocke? Are you here to get some inspiration from the true master at selfie-taking?"

Gordie scoffed and pushed up his shades. "Why don't you shut your fucking mouth Raihan, you just don't want to admit that the last photo I posted had more likes than _your_ recent photo!"

Raihan gave Gordie a toothy grin and crossed his arms. "Don't compare that weak-ass photo to the one I'm about to post _tonight_."

Gordie actually gasped at the word tonight, and pointed a finger at Raihan. "Are _YOU_ breaking your usual upload schedule? Hah, do you _really_ think a simple strategy like that is going to beat me?!"

Raihan and Gordie continued to throw childish insults at each other while Piers just wanted to just ditch the stupid conversation. "Gordie. We're sort of waitin' for the Chairman to get here so if you would just tell us why you're here before we have to go-"

"RIGHT! Right, okay, okay." Gordie cracked his knuckles and neck a few times, hyping himself up for what was about to transpire. He struck a pose, and said, "I CHALLENGE YOU, RAIHAN, AND YOU, _Piers,_ TO A ROCK-PAPER-SCISSORS MATCH!"

This was one of the reasons Piers didn't entirely like the guy. He was so childish and just acted very stupid sometimes, like, _didn't he graduate from a high-class university or something? Why didn't he act like it?_

Raihan was _so_ into it though, as if he was just challenged by Leon to a Pokemon battle.

"Oh, you're gonna get fuckin' swept Gordie, just you wait."

Piers didn't know what to make of Raihan as well. At times, he was this happy guy who just liked to take selfies and make goofy faces, but when he's in a battle, or any sort of challenge, he turns into this... unknown variable. He can get vicious, monstrous, perhaps even a little feral, yet keep his cool all at the same time. It's a wonder how he hasn't crushed Leon in battle, yet.

Piers watched as Gordie and Raihan held out their fists and began to play. It was a very weird scene, as Raihan was a foot taller than the rock-type gym leader and had to bend down a little to maintain eye contact with the other man who was looking up.

"Rock... paper... SCISSORS!"

Raihan and Gordie both held out scissors.

But unlike before, Gordie didn't want this to end in a tie. He _had_ to beat Raihan, his social media rival and best friend.

"Again," Gordie demanded. Raihan didn't object, and the two of them threw out their hands again.

It ended up as a tie again, with both sides holding out scissors once more.

"Playing mind games, are we Gordie?" Raihan glared, with that ferocious look in his eyes.

"_Again._"

"Why-" Piers was about to say, until he was interrupted by the other two men.

"SHHHH-" Gordie and Raihan both shushed, not actually looking at Piers.

Piers threw his hands up halfheartedly and just continued to stand there. He noticed a few people staring at this whole situation from a distance, as if this rock-paper-scissor game was something special.

"Now!"

Raihan and Gordie threw down their hands.

"YES! YES!" Gordie shouted, as he held out _another_ scissors.

Raihan, with a slight look of defeat on his face, silently cursed at the fact that he had held out paper, overthinking his move. But immediately, a smile returned to Raihan's face, and he pulled out his phone. "You got me this time, Gordie. Let's take a pic to commemorate this, shall we?" he asked, pointing to his Rotom phone that happily smiled at Gordie.

Gordie nodded with glee, and positioned himself next to Raihan. They both smiled widely at the camera.

"Why the hell would you commemorate a _rock-paper-scissors game_?" Piers whispered to himself, unable to understand these two idiots.

Raihan snapped the picture, and posted it right away.

"Cool, cool. I'll make sure to tag you, man."

"Thanks, Rai." Gordie looked over at Piers, who was sulking a few feet away. "You know what time it is-"

"Whatever," Piers stated, knowing that Gordie wouldn't stop bothering him if he said no, so he might as well just get it over with. Piers slowly raised his fist with all his sickly-pale and stick-like fingers. Gordie raised his a little more enthusiastically. Raihan made sure to watch out of the corner of his eye, but still try and write a decent description for the photo he was about to post.

"Rock... paper... sci-"

Piers held out scissors before Gordie even got to finish the "countdown."

"Oh, I guess you win, right? Rock beats scissors, or whatever, yeah?"

Gordie was about to say something to insult Piers' lack of engagement, but instead Gordie held up his hands and shrugged. "I'm not gonna' reject a win, so yep! I've won."

Piers rolled his eyes and walked a little farther away from Gordie.

"...and done. It's posted," Raihan said, thanking the Rotom phone with a smile and sliding it back into his pocket.

Gordie walked back over to him and gave him a light punch on the shoulder. "Thanks for not being a spoilsport like... you know."

Raihan nodded and glanced over at Piers, who was dozing off and looking like he was about to murder someone with those intense eye bags of his. "Yeah, he's just going through some tough times right now, I guess."

Gordie's eyes widened a bit beneath his shades. "Oh, really?"

Raihan turned his head away from Piers and up at the stadium. "The Chairman asked him to relocate again. He really doesn't want to, as you probably already know, but he seems to really be thinking about it a lot lately. And now, the Chairman asked the two of us to meet him here so... that's probably going through his head as well."

"Perhaps we should throw him a party or something," Gordie joked, but Raihan actually tilted his head at the idea, as if he was thinking hard about the suggestion.

"That's not actually a bad idea..."

"Uh, no. I'm kiddin' Raihan. I don't think the guy would appreciate something like that."

Raihan grinned. "We'll see..."

"Uh... right." Gordie didn't want to think about a Piers' appreciation party any longer, so he changed the subject. "Well, I gotta go and finish up my quest to challenge all the gym leaders to an R.P.S. match."

"Oh? You challenged all the gym leaders?" Raihan asked, giving a confused, yet amused, look at Gordie. "You almost done?"

"Yeah, I think I only have... ah. Shit."

"What's wrong?"

Gordie squinted his eyes and took a sharp breath. "There's only one more person left."

Raihan chuckled, knowing who he meant by his reaction alone. "Afraid of a little family reunion?" he teased.

"She beats your ass in battle, Rai. I don't think you have the right to say anything about her."

Raihan gave Gordie a cold glare, with his piercing teal-colored eyes, but quickly went back to his usual nonchalant smile. "Just go up and ask her, it's not that hard."

"Nahhh... I don't think I will."

"But then you wouldn't complete this challenge of yours."

Gordie thought about it for a moment. "She's my mother, so she doesn't count. Family doesn't count in this situation. Besides, I already have Opal going to tell her that she beat me in a game of-"

"WAIT, wait, wait-" Raihan laughed, "Opal _BEAT_ you? Oh _that_ is seriously the best shit I've heard all day."

"It's a game of chance, RAIHAN, and somehow, she CHEATED!"

Raihan continued to laugh, and Gordie angrily sighed.

"Okay. OKAY. I'm leaving now so I don't have to listen to your stupid voice."

Gordie stormed off brushing his hair away from his face as he usually does, as Raihan laughed his way over to Piers. "Hey, hey Piers."

"Mmm?"

"Opal beat Gordie at a game of rock-paper-scissors, and she's going to tell Melony about it- PFFFFFFFFT-"

Even Piers couldn't help but crack a tiny smile, as the thought of Opal embarrassing Gordie pleased him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the ridiculously long chapter! I probably could have broken it up into two parts, but... nahh.
> 
> Here are some notes:  
>Ah yes, Milo's unnamed little bro. He's gonna be called Arlo for now, but if they ever officially give him a name, I'll be sure to change it.  
>I just felt like Gordie would want to be the RPS king, so this was my take on his adventure.  
>And yes, Leon got lost in Glimwood Tangle. Poor Opal has to save him.  
>I'll probably expand on some of the situations (brought up in this chapter that weren't directly addressed) in future chapters.  
>I tried my take on all the gym leaders in this chapter (except Melony, of course HAHAH). This was just to get my foot in the door with these dudes because I love all of them, and I'm trying to figure out how they would all interact with each other.  
>Slow updates suck, I know. But thank you to anyone who still takes the time to read this!
> 
> And as always, thanks for reading! heheheh~


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